Temple Hillel B'nai Torah

You can read her message below and watch the video https://youtu.be/_LfgRKbkxvw

I want to thank Councilor Arroyo for his kind invitation to speak to all of you today. As we have begun a new year in the Gregorian calendar and just entered a New Year on the Chinese lunar calendar, and as we prepare for the Mayor’s reflections on State of our City, let us pause to celebrate this opportunity for renewal for our city.

This week Jews in synagogues of all traditions will hear in the sacred reading from the Torah about the dramatic showdown between Moses and Pharaoh. Moses makes his demand, Let my people go. Pharaoh refuses. Time and again, they challenge one another without budging. Without divine intervention, there would have been no Exodus, no liberation, no Passover holiday. The Jewish people would not be here today.

Moses is known as the most humble of all souls. What is the one attribute that we learn about Pharaoh, the fundamental quality that drives his decisions? It was the opposite of humility. The best cardiologists of our famed Boston hospitals would recognize the source of Pharaoh’s stubbornness. For Pharaoh had a hardened heart.

Pharaoh’s heart was not hardened from an unhealthy diet. No, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened from pride, from the belief that he need not listen to anyone, from a cold calculation that disregarded the human tragedy that was the result of his own pride.

Now we might think that Pharaoh is someone else, a force or power who turned the Israelite slaves into victims. But Pharaoh can be understood, not as an outside force, but as part of our own makeup! There is a Jewish mystical interpretation of Pharaoh that says within each one of us dwells a hard-hearted Pharaoh. We do not need miracles to defeat that, Pharaoh. All we need is to learn how to soften our own hardened hearts.

A hardened heart refuses to listen. It ties us down to the way things have always been and keeps us in bondage to destructive habits of mind and deed.

A hardened heart enslaves us to our fears. It imprisons us, isolating us from others, from feeling compassion for them or even listening to their ideas.

The ancient Pharaoh believed that a soft heart would make him weak. He did not understand that compassion can dwell alongside strength. Had his heart been softer, Pharaoh would surely have avoided the tragic confrontation that made his people suffer and led to his own downfall.

One Jewish tradition says that God asks only one thing, of Pharaoh and of each of us. That is, God desires our hearts. When we give our hearts we have access to an even greater power than Pharaoh. We have the power to go beyond our own echoing demands, to hear each other’s truth, and to work together toward a common goal. And so, we pray for all those who live in the city of Boston that we may be led by strong leaders with open hearts.

We pray for these city councilors, for our mayor, and for all the political and civic leaders of the City of Boston and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that their hearts may be softened to recognize injustice even when it means we must change, and to choose compassion even when we hurt.

We pray for all who live in our city that their hearts may be filled with faith in You and in each other, to work together for the best of the City of Boston.

We ask you, Source of Life, for your guidance and your blessing, to keep the people of our city safe from harm and nurtured by your loving embrace, that they and their families may dwell in our city and grow and prosper, that our neighborhoods may be places of peace and goodwill, that our city be a beacon to all Americans, a shining example to the world.

Open our hearts to share in Your many blessings, together as one beautiful, disagreeable and diverse, gifted and grateful community. Let us say, Amen.

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